Post by Dead Greyhawk on Sept 2, 2008 20:41:50 GMT -5
The Company looks at the collection of items dredged up from the pond: a strange shaped bottle that, when uncorked, emits smoke, various pieces of paper with magics written on them in part and in full, the strange magical books, and a plethora of golden earrings worn by the bog goblins. It is quite a treasure trove, especially the papers and books that contain puissant magics beyond Dell and Antonus's powers. It has come at an unacceptable price though, the loss of Alouicious, at least for the time being.
Al's gnawed, flayed, half-living corpse writhes with motion, wanted and not. The powerful ring taken from Myrick continues its course, reinvigorating his flesh and causing it to grow anew. The motion of Al's body is not merely that though. Never has such a grievous wound been healed by the ring and never in such foul conditions! Bugs and worms beset Al. Beetles crawl his flesh. Insects lay their eggs within him. The Company knows not what to do. Eventually, Al's half-living corpse is wrapped in the cloaks of the Company, binding his limbs tightly. The bundled dwarven mummy is hefty, but, when the Company prepares to depart Jasper carries Al without complaint.
The Company wanders aimlessly through Rushmoors trying to find their way back to the Javan. While it was easy to follow the stream in, it is much harder to find the stream to follow it out. Each morning and evening finds the Company heading westward, certain they are going in the right direction, but the middle of the day is not so simple. The right direction is easily lost.
The vermin of the swamp, giant-sized, begin to wear upon the Company. Giant snakes slither out of hummocks of reed to be slain. Giant leeches slurp out of the waters and muck to adhere to Company. Their numbing bite makes them especially dangerous, as they are easily overlooked at night. One even worms its way between the cloaks to feast on poor Al for a day before it is slain.
On the third day of roaming, a campfire is seen in the distance, its light shining in the night. Hiking across the muck and mire, trying not to stumble into quicksand, the Company approaches the fire and joins its occupants, three adventurers, Wendelain, Claude, and Ledonia. The young adventurers are glad for the Company, for the Rushmoors are a dangerous place and the larger the party the safer. When asked why they roam the swamp, they tell story of searching for missing children from town of Orlane.
Ledonia, a curt and weathered woman, tells of how the three of them were in the town of Orlane and heard tales of children going missing. A mother and father of a missing boy, young and in his teens, were concerned about the disappearance of his son and his son's friend. The parents feared they had been lost in the swamp, perhaps taken by creatures from it or lost entering it for private time. The three of them have been searching for days for the two teens but not found any.
Wendelain, a cleric of Kord, adds many children have gone missing, but their parents in Orlane seem unconcerned about it. "Very odd," she says. "First they have many fears that something has happened to their children. Then they seem to forget about them. Now they say everything is fine, though we didn't discover any children who have returned. We think these two teenagers are just the most recent to disappear."
Wendelain, Claude, and Ledonia tell the Company how they've mostly avoided conflict with the creatures in the Rushmoors, but that they received great help from an old hermit woman, Mother Gird. Mother Gird sent them south into the swamp, because she said she saw children going that way. "I don't think she would have steered you wrong," reassures Dell.
"We're trying to head to Castle Crag, a castle on the Geoffish side of the Javan," says Antonus. "Can you lead us to the Javan from here?"
The three adventurers look dubious. They are, after all, on a quest, a quest to save children! How can they compromise such a quest to lead some lost individuals out of the swamp? "You'd be surprised how your quests get set aside," mutters Perrin. Ledonia has a way with tracking, and once Raven assures them that Otto, a brave and wise man, would be perfect to provide tips on how to find the missing children, once they make it to Castle Crago, the three agree to lead the Company from the swamp.
In the morning, Ledonia begins to strike a trail away from the morning sun, westwards, presumably out of the swamp and towards the Javan River. The rest of the Company trail along behind her, stumbling over the various hummocks of grass and around stands of reed. They make much better time and are pleasantly surprised to see the land around them growing more and more waterlogged. Suddenly, Ledonia stops, holds up a hand, and motions everyone to back away. "Crocodiles, a full float of them," she says. "We'll have to move around them."
Antonus frowns as Ledonia begins to lead everyone around the crocodiles. After muttering some arcane words, Antonus sails up into the air and flies over the float of crocodiles. They wallow, half in and half out of the water, sunning themselves across the only clear path. Antonus nods to himself and summons a huge ball of fire upon them. The crocodiles flop around on the ground in agony and then lie still. Satisfied, Antonus floats back to the rest of Company, where Ledonia, Claude, and Wendelain stand in shock. "All clear," he says. "Let's get a move on." Ledonia leads them through the wreckage.
The Company makes remarkable speed following Ledonia out of the swamp. "Helps to have a tracker," remarks Raven to Dell, idly. Dell frowns. Adrienne again provides the requisite miracle to allow the Company to sprint across the flowing Javan, the three newcomers agog and stumbling on the flowing water, and the Company heads towards Castle Crag.
Two days out from the castle, they meet Winthrop, Hugh, and Otto, led by Pfiffwin, coming up to help the others. It is a joyous gathering, except for poor Pfiffwin, who discovers the remnants of his spellbook. "But I just bought this book and these illusions!" cries the anguished gnome, many of the spells gained from Old Tetta lost to the swamp. The other mages empathize, and Winthrop launches into a long story about how his spellbooks were also stolen once, by a man named San!
The Company heads back to Castle Crag to work on their various problems. Winthrop informs Dell and Antonus that Samantha has returned to Castle Crag bearing bad news. Her ancestral home within the Oytwood was destroyed by one of the mercenary bands raiding through the Oytwood, and her family slain. Winthrop has agreed that the Company will watch over her and her training until she is powerful enough to avenge them. Antonus rolls his eyes at the thought of another mage joining him in his training, and, surprisingly, Dell shares his dismay, grumbling about extra apprentices and extra work.
Now that the Company is mainly collected, Winthrop also tells them of the news he has received from Oaklock. The two of them have been sending arcane messages to one another for several days, and now the Company is faced with a choice. Owen, the Duke of Geoff, wants the Company to help his troops assault the ice elves and giants ensconced on the Crystalmists. With the death of Jarl Grugnir, the giantkind are without a leader, and this would be an ideal time to strike and undermine their alliance with the elves. Duke Owen has received intelligence that a cousin of Grugnir, Gungir, is attempting to rally the disorganized clans. The Duke, through Oaklock, suggests that either a strike by the Company against Gungir or against the ice elf castle spotted on the glacier would be of great aid to Geoff.
"Grugnir, Gungir, Groorg," spits Otto. "I wish they could use some other sounds in their names!" The rest of the Company agrees. The debate over what to do ranges far and wide. With Al so grievously injured, he will be unable to move for at least a month, and the loss of the doughty dwarven fighter is significant when fighting against giants.
Antonus is prepared to learn higher magics, and Dell claims that he will be otherwise occupied for some time. Winthrop will thus be occupied. Perrin wishes to take on his holy quest or to continue southward to the Yeomanry, where the Church of the Divine Seven may receive him with more friendship than the Temple of Kord did. Perrin has no wish to clamber through the mountains and glaciers into battle with giants, and he rationalizes his secret command from the elves of the Hornwood as requiring him to go where the Company goes.
Raven and Otto weight these issues. Otto is open to the idea of slaying more giants; the more slain in the north, the fewer to head south towards his homeland. Raven decides the Company should rest rather than hike back across the Duchy to do combat again. Additionally, all the signs of the Oytwood point towards the pressing need to recover the missing Great Druid not. Raven tells Winthrop that the Company will not go.
That settled, the Company gets down to business. Adrienne takes up rooms in the tower, and she brings Al into the tower with her. The pests and vermin that made Al their home for the days traveling through the swamp are slain, and he is ensconced in a locked room in the tower. Adrienne watches over him like a hawk, allowing no one to come near him while Myrick's ring rebuilds his destroyed body. She knows that the slightest touch on the ring might cause it to fall off, slaying him.
Arriving soon after the Company is Diego, with men to fortify the castle. Arden and his Oytwood Scouts return as well, to meet with Diego and plan. They agree to the tasks that Diego will undertake for the Oytwood Scouts, in exchange for possession of Castle Diego! Lord Diego barters for concessions from the Duke's representative in exchange for a secured frontier.
Wendelain, Claude, and Ledonia pester Otto, who has been pointed out to them by Raven, to help them in their mission to find the missing children. "The children," they chorus. "They are missing!" Raven rolls his eyes, but Otto seems oddly attentive to their concerns. Once Hugh hears that children may have gone missing and be held against their will, he is adamant that they must be freed! Trithereon's will would not let him rest until he was certain that all that could be freed were!
With Hugh's support, Otto thinks heavily on the matter. Otto agrees that missing children in a swamp is important, and he could probably track them, but Lord Diego still needs help in securing the land around the castle and restoring it to a habitable state. Diego in interested in Otto's input, and Otto is glad to share. Things go smoothly between the veteran warriors until a band of orcs is spotted outside of the castle walls. Diego's men scramble to prepare themselves, their first test of arms, but the orcs seem to want to parlay.
Under a flag of parlay, Diego rides out with two of his men to speak with the orcs, much to Arden's disgust. Whatever conversation goes on, it seems to be surprisingly amiable. Raven recalls from their time in the Pomarj that Diego speaks orcish fluently. "Perhaps Diego is garnering valuable information?" he thinks. Much to everyone's surprise, Diego, his two men, and the band of orcs return to Castle Diego in fine order, Diego ordering the gates open!
"I guess he took up my offer," mutters Dell, accurately spotting Org Bugeater near the front of the orcish band. Diego has indeed hired the orcs as mercenary guards. While this is not enough to break the agreement between Lord Diego and the Oytwood Scouts, it is enough to cause Arden, his men, and many of Diego's troops from Hochoch to leave. Diego takes their departure with surprising equanimity, paying the former men-at-arms their full wage and provisioning them.
Otto also takes this moment to leave, committing himself, Hugh, and Pfiffwin to the cause of saving the children. Otto can certainly not abide by the Diego's acts and remain in the castle with the vile orcs. Samantha agrees to join them as well, a large lizard that she names Lily riding on her shoulder. Three of the men that came with Diego from Hochoch, a shifty-looking man named Clift, an elven warrior named Florin, and a halfling priest called Frippi Nostockings, will travel with Otto rather than stay with Diego or return to Hochoch.
Raven wishes Otto good luck. The mages have much work to do, and the Company will be found at Castle Crago ("Diego!" mutters Diego.) for at least a month. After that, they will move south through the Stark Mounds and Sterich until they reach the Hall of the Blue Sun. Otto agrees to meet back up in one of those places. Then he leads his band of men and women across the Javan and back into the Rushmoors.
Winthrop has spent much of his free time separating and carefully trying to mark the magical books, as Dell has been engaged in explaining complicated dweomercraft to Antonus. Eventually, with much effort and swapping of books from room to room, the three magical books are segregated. Adrienne takes time to join them and peer at the books with her third sight. The books are remarkably resistant to simple magics, but she can clearly see that one of them is deeply evil in nature.
Antonus, now even more capable of magic and might, and Winthrop, less confused of mind than ever before, choose to use their powers to identify the contents of the other books. Antonus pores over the closed book, focusing his ritual to reveal aspects of its inner secrets. After several days of rituals, he comes out of his chamber to tell Winthrop his results, only to find Winthrop brandishing Foebiter!
Winthrop's hands are bandaged, the falchion is quite intact and appears to have maintained its magical enchantnment. Dell grins as Winthrop swings the sword through the air. "You did say if I put Foebiter's in your hands in one piece, you'd teach me the higher magics," crows Dell. "Never say that I am not a man of literal word!" Antonus stares at Dell's hand and sees the scar around his finger is raw and red, as if burned again. A jubilant Winthrop agrees to train Dell in higher magics, powers normally beyond the ken of the half-elven but which Dell can miraculously learn.
Raven comes across the chortling and frowning mages and asks Antonus what has happened. "A poor trade," replies the white-clad mage. "I've looked into one of the books," he adds. "It appears to increase the coordination of the reader, making them quicker and more deft."
"Really!" says Raven, beaming at Antonus. "Would you bring it to me?" Antonus, pleased to have his efforts respected by the leader of the Company, scurries off and returns with the tome. Raven weighs the hefty book and then puts it under one arm. "Many thanks!" says Raven, clapping Antonus on the back before walking off with the book. Antonus stands in shock and then glares at the archer's retreating form.
Winthrop thrusts the last of the books and his notes upon Antonus before returning to his chambers to begin the training of Dell. Antonus reads through the dark and grim notes that deal with vacancy and death. He frowns. The simplest of rituals shows that no mind could handle the mental vacuity posed by the book. Sitting alone between a book dedicated to evil and a tome designed to suck the mind from the reader, Antonus stares off into space, wondering what went wrong.
Al's gnawed, flayed, half-living corpse writhes with motion, wanted and not. The powerful ring taken from Myrick continues its course, reinvigorating his flesh and causing it to grow anew. The motion of Al's body is not merely that though. Never has such a grievous wound been healed by the ring and never in such foul conditions! Bugs and worms beset Al. Beetles crawl his flesh. Insects lay their eggs within him. The Company knows not what to do. Eventually, Al's half-living corpse is wrapped in the cloaks of the Company, binding his limbs tightly. The bundled dwarven mummy is hefty, but, when the Company prepares to depart Jasper carries Al without complaint.
The Company wanders aimlessly through Rushmoors trying to find their way back to the Javan. While it was easy to follow the stream in, it is much harder to find the stream to follow it out. Each morning and evening finds the Company heading westward, certain they are going in the right direction, but the middle of the day is not so simple. The right direction is easily lost.
The vermin of the swamp, giant-sized, begin to wear upon the Company. Giant snakes slither out of hummocks of reed to be slain. Giant leeches slurp out of the waters and muck to adhere to Company. Their numbing bite makes them especially dangerous, as they are easily overlooked at night. One even worms its way between the cloaks to feast on poor Al for a day before it is slain.
On the third day of roaming, a campfire is seen in the distance, its light shining in the night. Hiking across the muck and mire, trying not to stumble into quicksand, the Company approaches the fire and joins its occupants, three adventurers, Wendelain, Claude, and Ledonia. The young adventurers are glad for the Company, for the Rushmoors are a dangerous place and the larger the party the safer. When asked why they roam the swamp, they tell story of searching for missing children from town of Orlane.
Ledonia, a curt and weathered woman, tells of how the three of them were in the town of Orlane and heard tales of children going missing. A mother and father of a missing boy, young and in his teens, were concerned about the disappearance of his son and his son's friend. The parents feared they had been lost in the swamp, perhaps taken by creatures from it or lost entering it for private time. The three of them have been searching for days for the two teens but not found any.
Wendelain, a cleric of Kord, adds many children have gone missing, but their parents in Orlane seem unconcerned about it. "Very odd," she says. "First they have many fears that something has happened to their children. Then they seem to forget about them. Now they say everything is fine, though we didn't discover any children who have returned. We think these two teenagers are just the most recent to disappear."
Wendelain, Claude, and Ledonia tell the Company how they've mostly avoided conflict with the creatures in the Rushmoors, but that they received great help from an old hermit woman, Mother Gird. Mother Gird sent them south into the swamp, because she said she saw children going that way. "I don't think she would have steered you wrong," reassures Dell.
"We're trying to head to Castle Crag, a castle on the Geoffish side of the Javan," says Antonus. "Can you lead us to the Javan from here?"
The three adventurers look dubious. They are, after all, on a quest, a quest to save children! How can they compromise such a quest to lead some lost individuals out of the swamp? "You'd be surprised how your quests get set aside," mutters Perrin. Ledonia has a way with tracking, and once Raven assures them that Otto, a brave and wise man, would be perfect to provide tips on how to find the missing children, once they make it to Castle Crago, the three agree to lead the Company from the swamp.
In the morning, Ledonia begins to strike a trail away from the morning sun, westwards, presumably out of the swamp and towards the Javan River. The rest of the Company trail along behind her, stumbling over the various hummocks of grass and around stands of reed. They make much better time and are pleasantly surprised to see the land around them growing more and more waterlogged. Suddenly, Ledonia stops, holds up a hand, and motions everyone to back away. "Crocodiles, a full float of them," she says. "We'll have to move around them."
Antonus frowns as Ledonia begins to lead everyone around the crocodiles. After muttering some arcane words, Antonus sails up into the air and flies over the float of crocodiles. They wallow, half in and half out of the water, sunning themselves across the only clear path. Antonus nods to himself and summons a huge ball of fire upon them. The crocodiles flop around on the ground in agony and then lie still. Satisfied, Antonus floats back to the rest of Company, where Ledonia, Claude, and Wendelain stand in shock. "All clear," he says. "Let's get a move on." Ledonia leads them through the wreckage.
The Company makes remarkable speed following Ledonia out of the swamp. "Helps to have a tracker," remarks Raven to Dell, idly. Dell frowns. Adrienne again provides the requisite miracle to allow the Company to sprint across the flowing Javan, the three newcomers agog and stumbling on the flowing water, and the Company heads towards Castle Crag.
Two days out from the castle, they meet Winthrop, Hugh, and Otto, led by Pfiffwin, coming up to help the others. It is a joyous gathering, except for poor Pfiffwin, who discovers the remnants of his spellbook. "But I just bought this book and these illusions!" cries the anguished gnome, many of the spells gained from Old Tetta lost to the swamp. The other mages empathize, and Winthrop launches into a long story about how his spellbooks were also stolen once, by a man named San!
The Company heads back to Castle Crag to work on their various problems. Winthrop informs Dell and Antonus that Samantha has returned to Castle Crag bearing bad news. Her ancestral home within the Oytwood was destroyed by one of the mercenary bands raiding through the Oytwood, and her family slain. Winthrop has agreed that the Company will watch over her and her training until she is powerful enough to avenge them. Antonus rolls his eyes at the thought of another mage joining him in his training, and, surprisingly, Dell shares his dismay, grumbling about extra apprentices and extra work.
Now that the Company is mainly collected, Winthrop also tells them of the news he has received from Oaklock. The two of them have been sending arcane messages to one another for several days, and now the Company is faced with a choice. Owen, the Duke of Geoff, wants the Company to help his troops assault the ice elves and giants ensconced on the Crystalmists. With the death of Jarl Grugnir, the giantkind are without a leader, and this would be an ideal time to strike and undermine their alliance with the elves. Duke Owen has received intelligence that a cousin of Grugnir, Gungir, is attempting to rally the disorganized clans. The Duke, through Oaklock, suggests that either a strike by the Company against Gungir or against the ice elf castle spotted on the glacier would be of great aid to Geoff.
"Grugnir, Gungir, Groorg," spits Otto. "I wish they could use some other sounds in their names!" The rest of the Company agrees. The debate over what to do ranges far and wide. With Al so grievously injured, he will be unable to move for at least a month, and the loss of the doughty dwarven fighter is significant when fighting against giants.
Antonus is prepared to learn higher magics, and Dell claims that he will be otherwise occupied for some time. Winthrop will thus be occupied. Perrin wishes to take on his holy quest or to continue southward to the Yeomanry, where the Church of the Divine Seven may receive him with more friendship than the Temple of Kord did. Perrin has no wish to clamber through the mountains and glaciers into battle with giants, and he rationalizes his secret command from the elves of the Hornwood as requiring him to go where the Company goes.
Raven and Otto weight these issues. Otto is open to the idea of slaying more giants; the more slain in the north, the fewer to head south towards his homeland. Raven decides the Company should rest rather than hike back across the Duchy to do combat again. Additionally, all the signs of the Oytwood point towards the pressing need to recover the missing Great Druid not. Raven tells Winthrop that the Company will not go.
That settled, the Company gets down to business. Adrienne takes up rooms in the tower, and she brings Al into the tower with her. The pests and vermin that made Al their home for the days traveling through the swamp are slain, and he is ensconced in a locked room in the tower. Adrienne watches over him like a hawk, allowing no one to come near him while Myrick's ring rebuilds his destroyed body. She knows that the slightest touch on the ring might cause it to fall off, slaying him.
Arriving soon after the Company is Diego, with men to fortify the castle. Arden and his Oytwood Scouts return as well, to meet with Diego and plan. They agree to the tasks that Diego will undertake for the Oytwood Scouts, in exchange for possession of Castle Diego! Lord Diego barters for concessions from the Duke's representative in exchange for a secured frontier.
Wendelain, Claude, and Ledonia pester Otto, who has been pointed out to them by Raven, to help them in their mission to find the missing children. "The children," they chorus. "They are missing!" Raven rolls his eyes, but Otto seems oddly attentive to their concerns. Once Hugh hears that children may have gone missing and be held against their will, he is adamant that they must be freed! Trithereon's will would not let him rest until he was certain that all that could be freed were!
With Hugh's support, Otto thinks heavily on the matter. Otto agrees that missing children in a swamp is important, and he could probably track them, but Lord Diego still needs help in securing the land around the castle and restoring it to a habitable state. Diego in interested in Otto's input, and Otto is glad to share. Things go smoothly between the veteran warriors until a band of orcs is spotted outside of the castle walls. Diego's men scramble to prepare themselves, their first test of arms, but the orcs seem to want to parlay.
Under a flag of parlay, Diego rides out with two of his men to speak with the orcs, much to Arden's disgust. Whatever conversation goes on, it seems to be surprisingly amiable. Raven recalls from their time in the Pomarj that Diego speaks orcish fluently. "Perhaps Diego is garnering valuable information?" he thinks. Much to everyone's surprise, Diego, his two men, and the band of orcs return to Castle Diego in fine order, Diego ordering the gates open!
"I guess he took up my offer," mutters Dell, accurately spotting Org Bugeater near the front of the orcish band. Diego has indeed hired the orcs as mercenary guards. While this is not enough to break the agreement between Lord Diego and the Oytwood Scouts, it is enough to cause Arden, his men, and many of Diego's troops from Hochoch to leave. Diego takes their departure with surprising equanimity, paying the former men-at-arms their full wage and provisioning them.
Otto also takes this moment to leave, committing himself, Hugh, and Pfiffwin to the cause of saving the children. Otto can certainly not abide by the Diego's acts and remain in the castle with the vile orcs. Samantha agrees to join them as well, a large lizard that she names Lily riding on her shoulder. Three of the men that came with Diego from Hochoch, a shifty-looking man named Clift, an elven warrior named Florin, and a halfling priest called Frippi Nostockings, will travel with Otto rather than stay with Diego or return to Hochoch.
Raven wishes Otto good luck. The mages have much work to do, and the Company will be found at Castle Crago ("Diego!" mutters Diego.) for at least a month. After that, they will move south through the Stark Mounds and Sterich until they reach the Hall of the Blue Sun. Otto agrees to meet back up in one of those places. Then he leads his band of men and women across the Javan and back into the Rushmoors.
Winthrop has spent much of his free time separating and carefully trying to mark the magical books, as Dell has been engaged in explaining complicated dweomercraft to Antonus. Eventually, with much effort and swapping of books from room to room, the three magical books are segregated. Adrienne takes time to join them and peer at the books with her third sight. The books are remarkably resistant to simple magics, but she can clearly see that one of them is deeply evil in nature.
Antonus, now even more capable of magic and might, and Winthrop, less confused of mind than ever before, choose to use their powers to identify the contents of the other books. Antonus pores over the closed book, focusing his ritual to reveal aspects of its inner secrets. After several days of rituals, he comes out of his chamber to tell Winthrop his results, only to find Winthrop brandishing Foebiter!
Winthrop's hands are bandaged, the falchion is quite intact and appears to have maintained its magical enchantnment. Dell grins as Winthrop swings the sword through the air. "You did say if I put Foebiter's in your hands in one piece, you'd teach me the higher magics," crows Dell. "Never say that I am not a man of literal word!" Antonus stares at Dell's hand and sees the scar around his finger is raw and red, as if burned again. A jubilant Winthrop agrees to train Dell in higher magics, powers normally beyond the ken of the half-elven but which Dell can miraculously learn.
Raven comes across the chortling and frowning mages and asks Antonus what has happened. "A poor trade," replies the white-clad mage. "I've looked into one of the books," he adds. "It appears to increase the coordination of the reader, making them quicker and more deft."
"Really!" says Raven, beaming at Antonus. "Would you bring it to me?" Antonus, pleased to have his efforts respected by the leader of the Company, scurries off and returns with the tome. Raven weighs the hefty book and then puts it under one arm. "Many thanks!" says Raven, clapping Antonus on the back before walking off with the book. Antonus stands in shock and then glares at the archer's retreating form.
Winthrop thrusts the last of the books and his notes upon Antonus before returning to his chambers to begin the training of Dell. Antonus reads through the dark and grim notes that deal with vacancy and death. He frowns. The simplest of rituals shows that no mind could handle the mental vacuity posed by the book. Sitting alone between a book dedicated to evil and a tome designed to suck the mind from the reader, Antonus stares off into space, wondering what went wrong.